Brown Co. murder investigation seeks more clues

Pregnant woman, toddler found shot in Brown Co.

WLWT News 5's Courtis Fuller was the first reporter to see crime scene photos of the Brown County murder late Friday night.

The Brown County Sheriff's Office released more new information Friday morning about the death.

Stykes' father told WLWT News 5 on Thursday that his daughter was four months pregnant, and the sheriff's office confirmed that. The office also said that Stykes, 22, was shot several times in her vehicle sometime between 7:30 and 8:05 p.m. Wednesday.

The Jeep was off the side of U.S. 68 south of Gooselick Road when deputies responded to a call of a traffic accident north of Ripley, the sheriff's office said.

Stykes' 14-month-old daughter was also found in the Jeep with a gunshot wound to the head. The girl, named Audrey, was airlifted to Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Family members said the girl has a collapsed lung and remains in critical condition but is improving.

Investigators aren't sure whether Stykes was shot in the vehicle or whether she got into the vehicle to escape after she was wounded.

"She was on her way from my mother's home. I was at the gym working out," said husband, Shane Stykes. "I don't know if the crime was intended for my wife or someone else."

Authorities are hoping that witnesses recall seeing her distinctive yellow Jeep sometime before the shooting.

"It's been a total shock to this entire community. These kinds of things don't happen out here," Riley-Union-Lewis-Huntington High School Principal Susie Skinner said. "You never know a kid totally but I would bet 99.9 percent she was in no trouble."